GAYLORD ― We’ve reached the halfway point of the high school football regular season in Otsego County.
Four games down and five to go, two Gaylord-area teams (Gaylord, St. Mary) are undefeated and rolling with critical conference matchups to come in the second half of the season, while the third team (Johannesburg-Lewiston) is still searching for its first win in 2025.
After three home games last week, all three Otsego County teams will be on the road in Week 5, with Gaylord traveling to Cadillac, St. Mary going to Onaway and JoBurg heading to Kalkaska. Here are this week’s previews:
Gaylord
Gaylord (4-0, 2-0 BNC) vs. Cadillac (2-2, 2-1 BNC)
Last meeting: Cadillac 22, Gaylord 14 (2024)
You might’ve figured that those one-score games and that last-minute magic would go away after the previous GHS coaching staff left and head coach Matt Silsbury took over. You would’ve been mistaken.
Since the 2022 season, Gaylord has played in 13 games decided by one score or less and has gone 10-3 in such games, including all four victories this season and last week’s 19-13 victory in the Jaycees Trophy game against Petoskey. They’re hoping at some point to put everything together and roll to a victory with a little less stress at the end, but coach Silsbury and the staff won’t be complaining if the Blue Devils, now ranked No. 10 in Division 3 in the latest Michigan Sports Writers rankings, leave Cadillac with another close win this week.
The Vikings own one of those three one-score victories over Gaylord, a 22-14 win last season during a five-game losing streak for the Blue Devils. Now, Gaylord looks to top a consistent BNC program and keep pace in the league title hunt. Cadillac, meanwhile, could reenter the BNC title conversation with a win, holding only one league loss to date (Escanaba, 36-7).
A win for Gaylord would set up a monumental two-game stretch, welcoming their old head coach DJ Szymoniak and Alpena to Gaylord Community Field on October 3 and a potential conference championship deciding game against Escanaba on October 10.
Gaylord St. Mary
St. Mary (4-0, 3-0 SKi Valley) vs. Onaway (2-2, 2-1 SVC)
Last meeting: GSM 64, OHS 14 (2024)
St. Mary’s has barely broken a sweat in its last two Ski Valley Conference victories, rolling past Fife Lake Forest Area (47-0) and Bellaire (58-30) as the team has done well to avoid injuries and reset the players’ mindsets heading into the back half of the season. Now, they begin their climb towards Week 9 and the postseason.
GSM has risen to No. 6 in 8-player Division 2 of the Michigan Sports Writers rankings, hoping to keep its undefeated record intact at Onaway in Week 5. The Cardinals should test the Snowbirds a bit more than their past two opponents, but they should be moving into Week 6 still in control of their own destiny after another SVC victory. They have games against Pellston, Breckenridge and Holton before the biggest game on their schedule, Week 9 vs. the No. 2-ranked team in 8-player D1, Indian River Inland Lakes.
Johannesburg-Lewiston
JoBurg (0-4, 0-3 NMFC-Legacy) vs. Kalkaska (4-0)
Last meeting: Kalkaska 40, JoBurg 12 (2024)
How this game will go will depend on which JoBurg football team shows up this week.
In certain games, JoBurg looked like a brand-new program with high expectations; they fell 36-34 in double overtime to Burton Bendle in Week 1, a Division 7 opponent that is 3-1 through the first four weeks of the year. In Week 3, they played a close game with Frankfort, a league opponent that has owned the Cardinals throughout the past four years, and seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough. However, Week 2 and Week 4 were much different stories as JL took tough losses to league opponents (52-0 to East Jordan, 45-12 to Harbor Springs), not showing the same urgency as they did in previous weeks.
They will need that Week 1 or Week 3 team to show up, especially against a strong Kalkaska team. The Battlers are 4-0, have a slew of impressive victories including a 24-20 win over East Jordan, and recently received a vote in the Michigan Sports Writers Rankings, putting them at No. 17 in D6.
Contact GHT Sports Editor Dylan Jespersen at Djespersen@gaylordheraldtimes.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @dylanjespersen, and Instagram, @dylanjespersen
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Previewing Gaylord-area high school football teams face road tests in Week 5
Reporting by Dylan Jespersen, The Petoskey News-Review / The Petoskey News-Review
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